Achanta defeated Czech Republic’s Pavel Sirucek 17-15, 9-11, 11-6, 8-11, 11-9 in the men singles opening round while Sathiyan, who also secured a direct entry into the main draw , suffered 11-7, 11-4, 11-8 loss at the hands of star African paddler and World No. 20 Aruna Quadri in the Round-of-32.

The World No. 32 Sharath, struggled initially when he trailed by five points in the first game before recovering well with a strong counter attacking display to take an early 1-0 lead in the match.

Despite losing the next game, nine-time national champion kept firing attacking shots to bag the third set comfortably.

Sirucek, a World No. 51, who played a lead role in India’s defeat at the Team Olympic Qualifier last year, managed to come back in the fourth game but seasoned campaigner Sharath held his nerves in the deciding game and won 3-2.

Sharath faces a strong challenge from the World No. 7 Lin Yun-Ju of Chinese Taipei in the pre-quarters on Thursday.